Equipment needed to detect radiation in food is in short supply in Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, raising concerns among both producers and consumers that food supplies will not be adequately protected. Pressure is mounting as beef and rice farmers are competing to get their products tested. Fukushima Prefecture is scheduled to install six new detectors in September, six months after the disaster, in an effort to protect consumer safety “as soon as possible,” according to a prefecture official. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has criticized blanket testing of beef, saying the practice is contributing to the backlog of samples requiring testing.

Radioactive ash has begun to accumulate in seven prefectures across Japan, as the government tries to decide what to do with it. Ash that measures 8,000 Bq/kg or less of cesium can be buried provided there are no houses nearby, but more radioactive ash must be temporarily stored until the Environment Ministry decides how to handle it. Ash in Fukushima Prefecture has measured over 93,000 Bq/kg.